It’s one thing to keep a priceless diamond safe in a deposit box. It’s another thing entirely to move it around in the open, so that it passes between hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of people. Unfortunately, businesses often do exactly that with sensitive company data, which might move between numerous devices and people before going into storage. This makes hacking very attractive to modern criminals, who will stop at nothing to slip through a crack and steal valuable information. It’s essential, therefore, that you take every possible precaution to safeguard your data.

The state of cybersecurity

A recent McAfee study found that cybercrime costs businesses and individuals more than US$445 billion annually, and affected more than 800 million people worldwide in 2013 alone.[1] What’s worse, the threat continues to grow. As a result, Gartner reports that global spending on information security will increase from US$62 billion in 2012 to US$86 billion in 2016.[2]

The growing threat

There are two main reasons why your data is becoming increasingly vulnerable. First, the proliferation of mobile devices – with more than 50 billion expected to be in use by 2012[3] – and increasing cloud technology uptake has resulted in many networks being distributed across multiple devices and locations. This means that data shifts around constantly, providing innumerable points of vulnerability for malicious intruders to exploit.

Second, hackers have achieved unprecedented levels of sophistication, which is often coupled with a malicious determination. According to Cisco, the company resists an average of 320 million cyberattacks each day. And as recently as this May, hackers attacked the US Government’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and tampered with more than 100,000 tax records. Cybercriminals no longer use viruses that target specific operating systems or rely on email transmission. Instead, their relentless incursions – which range from phishing schemes to denial-of-service attacks – are planned, aggressive and frequently undetected.

Stopping the wolf at the gates

Effective IT security requires an adaptive response that consistently remains one step ahead of would-be cybercriminals. It must also encompass every branch of your network, leaving no doors open when they shouldn’t be. If this sounds like a lot to handle, the good news is that effective managed IT security services are now available. Cisco, for example, can manage your defences using proven methods like encryption and firewalls, providing you with an adaptive response to new threats. This not only secures sensitive information, but also provides you with peace of mind.